Kevin Devine – Brothers Blood
Release Date: 4/28/09
Favorite Gentlemen Recordings
Rating: 4/5
Brother’s Blood is the fifth release by New York based singer/songwriter Kevin Devine. It could very well be the best album he’s made in his career. Brother’s Blood uses subject matter that is familiar to Devine’s back catalog, touching on topics from substance abuse and lost love to scathing political criticism. Backed by his new band, Brother’s Blood plays out ridiculously confident and poised, while maintaining a likeable rawness and listenability.
Compromised of 11 songs that span 51 minutes, Brother’s Blood is a step back from the direction journeyed on his Capitol release Put Your Ghost to Rest. In favor of the structured simplistic pop songs that dominated Ghost, Devine and his “Goddamned Band” opt for a more dynamic thought-out sound. This is immediately relevant on tracks like “Carnival” which begins with a lo-fi reverbed riff and schizophrenically builds into a paranoid hollering climax. This is just one of the album’s many highlights.
The following 2 tracks “Time To Burn” and “Hand of God” showcase Devine’s criminally underrated lyrical ability. During his career, Devine has never been one to garner much of any hype. Devine has been better known as a dedicated musician who relentlessly tours anytime he gets a chance. Case in point: In a near two year span, Devine played close to 600 shows. With the combination of this plethora of shows on his back and a new record coming out on one of the most impressive up and coming labels on the scene (Favorite Gentlemen), something tells me that Devine won’t be out of the spotlight for much longer.
Devine explores territory ranging from detatched acoustic soul (Fever Moon) to gratifying acoustic pop (I Could Be With Anyone). However, what makes Brother’s Blood a step above the rest of his back catalogue is found in standout offerings that equate higher than anything he has done before. The first being the title track “Brother’s Blood”. Clocking in at just under 8 minutes, this song stands out as possibly the most abrasive epic song Devine has penned to date. Beginning with a drawn out 2 minute intro, the song trembles and shakes to it’s tottering finale ending with Devine lamenting at the top of his lungs “My sorry heart, my sorry heart!”
Two tracks later “It’s Only Your Life” plays as what would have been a perfect album closer. The track is compromised of nothing but Devine and his guitar, and as he ends the song with the lines “to fix or ruin, to figure what to do with, it’s only your life, to fix or ruin, cause no one else is going to do it. it’s only your life” a sense of closure and accomplishment is apparent almost as if a new page is being turned on what will be the defining album of Kevin Devine’s career.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Matt Helderman // May 2, 2009 at 7:08 am
Kevin Devine, hailing from Brooklyn New york has played guitar since his days at Fordham where he studied to become a journalist (perhaps creating his fascination and overall awareness of political science and social critique) before creating Miracle of 86 with his good friend Mike Skinner.
This being said, this album “Brothers Blood” is far and away his most mature work to date. While some songs are simply classic Devine songs, the essence of the material is so profound and original. He has finally broken down the barrier of simplicity that has for so long propelled yet deterred his career.
While pop songs sprinkle themselves though the album, the title track is Devines “Like a Rolling Stone” and a display of both his wonderful writing skills as well as the God Damn Bands superb musicianship.
Personally, I have seen Devine around 25 times in the past 8 years. I saw him open for a few bands in Connecticut when he was still studying at Fordham and was literally booed off the stage as his stumbled his way through a set of wonderful songs (as he killed a six pack and half a bottle of wine).
Falling in love with Kevin Devine has been a love hat relationship for many years. His albums were always something driving my passion for music, but his reluctance to evolve always stunted the mass he could have reached. With this album, and the nearly obvious influence of Brand New, Jesse Lacey, Neil Young, Elliot Smith, and of course a hint of Devine’s older works mixed with a bit of Miracle of 86 tension and speed – Devine has crafted his masterpiece thus far into his career.
Only time will tell if he can top this record, but for someone who has studied and followed his career extensively for years – I could not be more impressed. While each and every album has improved through his career, none have ever taken leaps quite like this one has.
If the months to follow he will embark on his summer tour supporting this material and I suggest (highly) to take the time to watch a truly gifted musician in full form.
Music is alive. And well.
2 Casey Fallon // Jun 14, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Matt Helderman, author of the above response, is clearly too absorbed in his own pretension to care for something so simple as sentence structure or comprehensible syntax. By name-dropping various artists and a Dylan song, Mr. Helderman ironically proves his lack of musical acumen by fabricating a sense of musical history. Kevin Devine, while obviously talented, exhibits the same self-important qualities as his apparent fan, qualities that prevent him from achieving wider success. Mr. Devine’s problem is not his lyrical craftsmanship or his musicianship, but rather his following of faux-hipster Connecticut kids attempting to convey their street cred from the living room of their parents’ McMansion. Douchebaggery is alive. And well.
3 Altan // Jun 14, 2010 at 7:22 pm
While I cannot deny the fact that my own iTunes library boasts a collection of Kevin Devine’s albums, I must agree more so with Fallon’s post than either of the previous authors. Helderman need not look any further than the chords echoing from his own 12-string guitar for material leaden with the self-indulgence and simplicity to equal that of Devine’s albums. On another note; Helderman’s admission of over 25 Devine sightings, while most assuredly false, gives him no more authority to provide musical or lyrical insight than an ape who has been taught to clap his hands to “Mary Had A Little Lamb”.
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